Crossroads Village and Huckleberry Railroad

Crossroads Village and the Huckleberry Railroad opened together on July 4, 1976 under the Genesee County Parks and Recreation Commission — the outgrowth of a 1950 City of Flint master plan that called for an upstream Flint River recreational area, and of a 1965 land-purchasing assistance offer from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation whose conditions led the county to form its parks commission the following year. A farm museum had been proposed for the area, and residents concerned about the loss of historic buildings as the county developed pushed for an adjacent historical village built from donated, relocated structures. The railroad's line is far older: it began operating in 1872 as part of the Flint River Railroad, was extended by the Flint and Pere Marquette to Otter Lake — and eventually 19.5 miles from Flint to Fostoria — before the Pere Marquette abandoned it in stages in 1932 and 1933. The Huckleberry name comes from the story that the train traveled so slowly a person could jump off, pick wild huckleberries, and re-board without difficulty. The depot at Crossroads Village is the former Grand Trunk Western Railroad station from nearby Davison.